KATE FORD has been in Coronation Street too long to expect happy ever afters.

As Weatherfield’s queen bitch Tracy Barlow, she will walk down the aisle with the man of her dreams, Steve McDonald, for an unlikely happy ending.

Soap being soap, however, nothing is going according to plan and bitter rival Becky McDonald is waiting in the wings with plans to wreck her big day. Kate is relieved.

“It’s quite difficult when Tracy doesn’t have an agenda because I am just not used to it,” she said.

“I’m like, ‘what do you mean, she’s actually telling the truth?’ When she is being honest it kind of throws me because I don’t know how to play it.”

Having enjoyed a relatively quiet period with terrible Tracy keeping her head down, Kate has been back in her comfort zone over the past few weeks as the woman who bludgeoned builder Charlie Stubbs to death has returned to her devious old self.

After suffering a miscarriage of her twins, she slipped and fell down stairs during an argument with Becky – and then lied that the fall caused her to lose the babies.

Becky has been ostracised by the Street and especially by former love Steve, who proposed to Tracy to help her get over the tragedy.

She said: “Tracy doesn’t act nasty for the sake of it. She always does it to get her own way.

“She can see things are going wrong so this inner bitch comes out because it is the way she deals with stuff.

“She’s been a lot calmer recently, considering what she’s been like in the past. We’ve had a glimpse of the more normal, level-headed Tracy as everything was going quite well for her.

“You just have to remember Tracy is in a situation that she considers to be, sort of, live or die.

“Her whole life she has wanted Steve and she can glimpse it, it’s there, and she has this one thing, this one person, who can sabotage everything.”

The plot marks the departure of Katherine Kelly (Becky), who will go out in a blaze of glory having wrecked Tracy’s nuptials by uncovering the truth.

Many have presumed Salford-born Kate, 34, will follow suit.

She returned to the cast last September after a two-and-half-year break as the combustible Becky’s foil, but she has no intention of going anywhere.

She said: “I haven’t even thought about leaving but because Katherine is leaving, people presumed I was too. I’ll stay for as long as they will have me.”

Off screen, the actress’ life is tranquil – she has been married to TV producer Jon Connerty forfour years.

She left Corrie in 2007 – when her character was jailed for killing Charlie Stubbs – to go on maternity leave after she became pregnant with baby son Otis, who is now three.

Kate loves being a mum and admitted she worried about returning to Weatherfield and juggling a hectic filming schedule in Manchester with her family life in London.

It has been a far easier transition than she first imagined, however, and is mindful that she has it easier than many working parents.

Kate, 37, said: “Being a mum is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I wanted to see how I juggled it with motherhood but it has worked out.

“I mean, right now, I haven’t been in work for the past four weeks.

“In terms of being a working mum, it works out better than it does for a lot of women because it is not nine to five.

“Although you might work some 12-hour days, you will tend to have a few days off the following week, so I get to see quite a lot of Otis. I feel very lucky really.”

Motherhood has also helped her deal with the emotional baggage of playing Tracy.

Kate, who has spoken publicly about suffering from panic attacks, has perfected the art of leaving her work outside her front door.

She said: “I don’t really have much choice. The minute I go home, my son will be saying ‘mummy’ and I’m not an actress any more, I just slip straight back into that role.

“It is challenging when you have a big story like the wedding.

“When there is more at stake, you are probably more anxious about it than if you were just coming in and doing bits.

“You are conscious of it– is it working, are you doing it justice? It puts more pressure on you but it is enjoyable.

“It’s a challenge and you get into a zone, you really do, where you know exactly where you are at because you are doing it every day for 12 hours.”

While sad to see Katherine Kelly go, Kate’s sure Tracy will find someone new to fall out with.

She laughed: “Miss Becky? Yes, but Tracy can find a new enemy.

“She’s always got someone to spar with. She goes from one person to another. I don’t think it will be long before she has a problem with somebody else.”

In the aftermath of the wedding, Kate will be able to show another side to her talents as well, as the future promises some comic potential.

She said: “There is a good bit of comedy, quite a bit of lighter stuff coming up as well, which is fun to film. I enjoy that.

“As an actress, you just play it straight really and the writing does it all.

“You’d be surprised how little we know, though.

“We don’t get our scripts that much in advance and we know a bit about what’s going to happen but we don’t know everything.

“You do kind of play it as it comes along. It’s easier than a play where you get the beginning, the middle and the end because it is continuing drama and you don’t know what is going to happen. It is almost like life.

“You say what you are given at the time and you have to play what you know and not the subtext of what is going to happen.”

Comedy is all well and good but it’s not Tracy’s dark heart. And again, Kate is very much relieved.

She said: “Well, I do enjoy it. It is much more interesting to play somebody like that than someone straight. I’m just used to it.

“It is nice to have the odd moment where she is normal, it makes her a more realistic character, a true person rather than just a caricature, at least I think so anyway.

“In some ways I would like to see how she would be if she was more settled, but hope it wouldn’t be for long – I love playing the baddie.”